Highland Europe Closes €1.1B Fund VI to Back Tech Scaleups
TL;DR
Highland Europe, the London- and Geneva-based growth equity firm, has closed its sixth fund at €1.1 billion (roughly $1.25 billion), the largest vehicle in its 14-year history. Fund VI will write growth checks into European technology companies from Series B through pre-IPO, concentrated in data, AI, software infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and consumer tech. The close is backed in part by a €65 million commitment from the British Business Bank, the UK government's economic development bank, and follows a year in which Highland generated more than €1 billion in liquidity from exits including the $3 billion sale of Nexthink and Bending Spoons' Nasdaq listing. It matters because it is one of the largest European growth funds raised this year, at a moment when many growth-stage managers are struggling to raise at all.
Key Takeaways
Distributions are funding the next fund. Highland closed Fund VI on the back of a year that generated more than €1 billion in realized liquidity for its LPs, not just paper marks. In a growth-equity market where DPI has been scarce for half a decade, actually returning cash is now the single best fundraising tool a GP has, and Highland's re-up cycle is a direct demonstration of that.
A sovereign-adjacent anchor LP is a vote of confidence, not just a check. The British Business Bank's €65 million commitment is a new relationship for Highland, not a renewal, and it comes with explicit alignment to the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy around digital, technology and financial services. That is state capital underwriting a private manager's judgment rather than picking companies directly, and it is a template other governments are likely to copy as they look to keep more scaleup capital domestic.
Series B to pre-IPO is where Europe's capital gap actually is. Seed and Series A capital in Europe is comparatively well supplied; the funding cliff shows up when a company has proven revenue growth and needs $50-150 million rounds without decamping to a US-only investor base. Highland's explicit focus on that band, doubled to €3.75 billion in cumulative firepower across six funds, is a bet that this gap persists even as mega-funds from the US increasingly parachute into late-stage European rounds.
Partner promotions signal succession planning, not just headcount growth. Elevating Helena Richardson and Jacob Bernstein, both roughly decade-long Highland veterans, to Partner alongside the fund close is a deliberate signal that the firm is building bench strength beneath its founding generation rather than concentrating decision rights in a handful of names as it scales toward a €1 billion-plus vehicle.
Fund Overview
Fund Name: Highland Europe Technology Growth Fund VI
Fund Size: €1.1 billion+ (reported as roughly $1.25 billion)
Stage: Growth equity, typically Series B through pre-IPO
Check Size: Not publicly disclosed; historically sized for growth-stage rounds in the tens of millions to over $100 million alongside co-investors
Geography: Europe, with a portfolio spanning 14 countries; firm headquartered in London and Geneva
Focus: Data, AI, software infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and consumer technology companies with strong revenue growth and global ambition
Key LPs: British Business Bank (€65 million commitment); broader LP base not individually disclosed
Why This Fund Matters
European growth equity has had a rough few years. Late-stage rounds compressed hard in 2022-2023, cross-border US megafunds pulled back from Europe when their own marks got ugly, and a generation of growth managers found themselves marking portfolios down while trying to convince LPs to commit to a new vehicle. Highland Europe's €1.1 billion close is notable precisely because it happened anyway, and because the firm can point to actual cash returned rather than just paper markups to justify it.
The exit list behind this fundraise is unusually strong for the current environment: a $3 billion sale of Nexthink, Danone's agreed acquisition of Huel, a $7.5 billion merger involving EGYM, and Bending Spoons' Nasdaq listing all happened inside the same 12-month window. That is the kind of distribution record that lets a GP walk into an LP meeting with numbers instead of narrative, and it explains why Highland was able to bring in a first-time institutional relationship with the British Business Bank rather than relying solely on existing backers.
The sectoral focus is also a tell. Data, AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and fintech are the categories every generalist growth fund claims to prioritize right now, but Highland's framing, explicitly tied to "AI reshaping every industry" in Partner Sam Brooks' own words, suggests the firm is underwriting AI-native revenue durability rather than simply relabeling a legacy enterprise software thesis. Whether that distinction holds up will show in which Series B and C companies get the biggest checks from this vehicle.
Government-linked capital showing up as a growth-fund LP is also a structural shift worth watching. The British Business Bank's commitment is explicitly tied to the UK's industrial strategy goals, not just return-seeking behavior. Expect more national development banks across Europe to follow this playbook: rather than trying to pick individual scaleups, they anchor into managers with proven distribution records and let the manager do stock-picking, a lower-friction way to keep capital domestic without the political risk of a government agency backing an individual company that later fails.
The Team
Highland Europe was founded in 2012 and has since raised €3.75 billion across six funds, backed more than 80 companies and guided 30 exits, a track record that places it among the more established growth-equity franchises in the European market. The firm operates out of London and Geneva with a team of 36, including 20 investment professionals. Sam Brooks, Partner, is the public voice on this raise, thanking LPs for their "long-standing trust and commitment." Alongside the close, Highland promoted Helena Richardson (joined the firm in 2016) and Jacob Bernstein (joined in 2017) to Partner, recognizing roughly a decade of portfolio and deal experience each. The firm's public materials do not break out a full current partner roster beyond these names, so readers should treat additional titles cited elsewhere as unconfirmed until Highland's own team page is updated.
Early Portfolio
Fund VI's own investments have not yet been disclosed, but Highland's existing book, built across five prior funds, includes 9fin, AMCS, Bending Spoons, Camunda, EGYM, Featurespace, GetYourGuide, Huel, hyperexponential, ME+EM, Nabla, n8n, Nexthink, Nothing, Wolt and Zwift. Recent deployment ahead of this close includes leading a $70 million Series B for legal AI platform Wordsmith, a $50 million Series B for enterprise AI delivery platform Unframe, and a $105 million Series D for precision-agriculture company Ecorobotix, giving a live read on the kind of check Fund VI is likely to write.
What This Means for Founders
This is not a fund for first-time founders raising a seed round. Highland's sweet spot is a European technology company with real revenue traction, typically Series B or later, that needs the kind of check and cross-border network that lets it compete with US-only alternatives without relocating headquarters. If your company fits the AI, data infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech or consumer-tech buckets and you are fielding term sheets from both European and American growth investors, Highland's recent track record on exits and its willingness to lead large rounds (the Wordsmith and Unframe deals both show board-seat-level conviction) make it a credible lead for a scale-up round.
The value-add pitch here is largely network and pattern recognition: a firm that has taken 30 companies through to exit, including several billion-dollar outcomes in the last year alone, has direct experience with the IPO and M&A processes founders will eventually face. For a European founder weighing whether to take growth capital from a domestic specialist versus a US crossover fund, Highland's case is that it can offer comparable check sizes with a governance and cultural fit built specifically around European scale-ups.
Fund Momentum Take
The headline number is impressive, but the more interesting story is the LP mix. A government development bank writing a first-time €65 million check into a private growth fund, explicitly tied to industrial policy goals, is a meaningfully different signal than another pension fund or fund-of-funds re-upping. It suggests Highland has become investable enough, and important enough to the UK's tech ambitions, that public money is willing to underwrite its judgment rather than fund individual companies directly. Expect this to become a more common pattern across Europe as governments look for lower-friction ways to keep growth capital domestic.
Our one caution: a fund this size, chasing Series B-to-pre-IPO deals in a narrow set of hot categories (AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech), is going to run into the same crowded-deal problem every other growth fund with fresh powder is facing right now. Highland's edge has historically been picking winners early and staying disciplined on price; the real test of Fund VI will be whether that discipline holds when every other growth investor in Europe is chasing the same 15-20 breakout AI companies.
Our bet: Highland's distribution record buys it real differentiation for the next 12-18 months, and the British Business Bank relationship could open doors to more UK-specific dealflow that pure-play US crossover funds won't see. This is one of the stronger European growth-fund closes of the year, and worth watching for where the first checks land.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is Highland Europe's new fund?
Fund VI closed at €1.1 billion or more, reported by some outlets as approximately $1.25 billion at current exchange rates, making it Highland's largest fund to date.
What stage does Highland Europe invest at?
The firm focuses on growth-stage technology companies, typically from Series B through pre-IPO, rather than seed or early-stage rounds.
Who are Highland Europe's most notable portfolio companies?
Its book includes 9fin, Bending Spoons, GetYourGuide, Huel, Nexthink, Wolt and Zwift, among others, spanning consumer and enterprise technology across 14 countries.
Who backed Fund VI?
The British Business Bank committed €65 million as a new institutional relationship; Highland's broader LP base was not individually disclosed in public materials.
What sectors is Fund VI targeting?
Data, AI, software infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and consumer technology companies with strong revenue growth and global ambition.
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